do they so often drag out one case in a thousand?  Let them read their own annals.  Martin Luther himself, that abomination of God and men, was put in court at Augsburg before Cardinal Cajetan:  there did he not belch out all he could, and then depart in safety, fortified with a letter of Maximilian?  Likewise, when he was summoned to Worms, and had against him the Kaiser and most of the Princes of the Empire, was he not safe under the protection of the Kaiser’s word?  Lastly, at the Diet of Augsburg, in presence of Charles V., an enemy of heretics, flushed with victory, master of the situation, did not the heads of the Lutherans and Zwinglians, under truce, present their Confessions, so frequently re-edited, and depart in peace?  Not otherwise had the letter from Trent provided most ample safe-guards for the adversary; he would not take advantage of them.  The fact is, he airs his condition in corners, where he expects to figure as a sage by coming out with three words of Greek:  he shrinks from the light, which should place him in the number of men of letters [lilleratorum {transcribers note:  the Latin is interpolated into the translation here}] and call him to sit in honourable place.  Let them obtain for English Catholics such a written promise of impunity, if they love the salvation of souls.  We will not raise the instance of Huss:  relying on the Sovereign’s word, we will fly to Court.  But, to return to the point whence I digressed, the General Councils are mine, the first, the last, and those between.  With them I will fight.  Let the adversary look for a javelin hurled with force, which he will never be able to pluck out.  Let Satan be overthrown in him, and Christ live.

FIFTH REASON

FATHERS

At Antioch, in which city the noble surname of Christians first became common, there flourished Doctors, that is, eminent theologians, and Prophets, that is, very celebrated preachers (Acts xiii. 1).  Of this sort were the scribes and wise men, learned in the kingdom of God, bringing forth new things and old (Matth. xiii. 52; xxiii. 34), knowing Christ and Moses, whom the Lord promised to His future flock.  What a wicked thing it is to scout these teachers, given as they are by way of a mighty boon!  The adversary has scouted them.  Why?  Because their standing means his fall.  Having found that out for certain beyond doubt, I have asked for a fight unqualified, not that sham-fight in which the crowds in the street engage, and skirmish with one another, but the earnest and keen struggle in which we join in the arena of yon philosophers,

   Foot to foot, and man close gripping man.